The head of Israeli intelligence is expected to lead his nation’s delegation as ceasefire talks resume in Qatar on Sunday, after new documents discovered in Gaza revealed more details about Hamas’ planning of the Oct. 7 attacks that started the war, including showing that even amid the day’s carnage, the terror group failed to reach some of its key targets.
Mossad head David Barnea will join Hamas leaders, along with Qatar’s prime minister and Egyptian officials, at the table to discuss the remaining differences between Israel and Hamas, including hostage and prisoner releases and humanitarian aid, a report said.
Barnea’s attendance will be in direct response to the latest ceasefire proposal from Hamas, which includes the release of women, children, elderly and ill Israeli hostages in exchange for 700-1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including at least 100 serving life sentences.
The new talks would mark the first time Israeli officials and Hamas leaders joined the negotiations since the start of Ramadan last Monday. International mediators initially hoped to secure a six-week deal before the Muslim holy month started, but Hamas and Israel clashed over the proposed terms.
Barnea was a key player in prior talks, including a short-lived truce in November. His last meeting with Qatar’s prime minister in January led to a proposal for a temporary ceasefire that Hamas ultimately rejected.
Separately, Israeli media reported Saturday that documents seized in Gaza showed Hamas’ planning for Oct. 7 aimed for an even more devastating attack than the terrorists carried out.
The documents showed that Hamas intended to send 1,500 to 1,800 members of its the elite Nukhba force to attack 46 communities and bases, including a base serving the military intelligence Unit 8200 and the air force base at Hatzerim in southern Israel, The Times of Israel reported. The 3,000 terrorists who infiltrated Israel that morning did not make it to those sensitive bases.
The paperwork, which was signed by the terror group’s number three and deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, Marwan Issa, who the Israeli Defense Forces claim to have killed on Monday, also suggested coordination with Iran and terrorists in Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7, though they included no specifics. One document recovered said, “the conditions in Iran and Lebanon allow us to tie the big project with the axis [of resistance].”
Israel’s Channel 12 also reported that the documents revealed that Hamas was able to keep its plan secret by revealing the details to brigade commanders just five days before the attacks took place. Battalion commanders got only 48 hours notice and company commanders just 12 hours, the report said.
The developments came as the first aid shipment via the sea reached the Gaza Strip.
Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen said its team on the ground in Gaza had finished unloading the first maritime delivery, according to the Times of Israel. “All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza,” the organization said.
The delivery included “almost 200 tons of food,” the group added.
World Central Kitchen built a temporary jetty to allow the flat-bottomed barge to approach Gaza to compensate for the lack of a port, the Times of Israel said.
There is little information available about how exactly the food would be distributed to Gaza’s civilians.
A second ship with 240 tons of food aid, along with two fork lifts and a crane to handle future deliveries, is being readied to sail from Cyprus, the charity said.
The ship arrived amid news that one in three children under two years old in the Gaza Strip are acutely malnourished, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
“Children’s malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in #Gaza,” the main agency operating in the enclave posted on X. “Famine is looming.”
The agency also believes that more children have been killed in the area over the last five months than in four years of worldwide conflict, reports said.
In other developments:
- The US is trying to stop Iran from smuggling arms to Houthi fights in Yemen – though resources are limited, The Washington Post reported.
- The Hamas-linked health ministry in Gaza claimed that the death toll has surpassed 31,553 since the war started in October, the Times of Israel said. An additional 37 people were killed in an airstrike in central Gaza Friday night, CNN reported, 35 of whom were members of the same family.
- A gunman was shot by Israeli forces in the West Bank after opening fire towards a Jewish settlement in Hebron, according to footage shared on X by reporter Emanuel Fabian.
With Post wires
